24:7 Festival - Various Venues - 24/07/07 by Julia Taylor (Photo by Tom Wright)

The 24:7 Theatre Festival, now in its fourth year, is one of the most exciting events of the Manchester drama season. You are treated to a feast of 21 new short plays spread over 105 performances in non-theatre venues until Sunday, 29th July.

You can make a day of it since some productions start at 12.30 and others commence at 8.30 pm. I devoted an evening to see two performances, one at the Midland Hotel and, the other at the Printworks.

The plays couldn’t have been more different yet they both had attractions and congratulations to both playwrights.

Slowly Vignettes was Kevin Cuffe’s brainchild though his brain must be bigger than mine since I couldn’t figure out why the two central figures were locked in a room together or why it contained a guillotine.

That apart, it gave Sue McCormick as Bessie and Robert Maxfield as Frank, a chance to display their talent. Bessie was desperate to rekindle old passions but Frank was having none of it, even making tea to distance himself from her overtures. She used games. memories and dreams, to fill the time and her cup was always half full.

Frank’s cup was completely empty and he even, amusingly, attempted to use the guillotine to see himself off. His dry wit was a hit. These two made this puzzle of a play into an enjoyable event.

My second play, ‘The Lullaby Witch’ was, literally bewitching. Mark Griffiths, who wrote it, came up with a well-written murder yarn containing some spine-chilling descriptions. No wonder he has been commissioned by the BBC to write a play for Radio 4!

It featured one actress, Laura Harper, who was Leona Cash, a music journalist who stumbled upon the truth about a child murderess who almost ensnared her best friend. The methadone impregnated dandelion seeds were the clue as to the deaths of child protégées.

Laura related the frightening tale with perfect expression and pause as she captured every nuance of its chilling theme. It was scary enough at Printworks but told in the dark at Hallowe’en, it would have you screaming aloud. These two productions were appetite-wetters for a host of innovative material on offer until Sunday.